Law Times

PM #40762529 $5.00 • Vol. 29, No. 31 October 1, 2018 L AW TIMES C O V E R I N G O N T A R I O ' S L E G A L S C E N E • W W W . L A W T I M E S N E W S . C O M Bill could cut opportunities for law students Emma Rhodes says aspects of a Criminal Code overhaul could negatively impact the next generation of criminal lawyers. Photo: Robin Kuniski COPYRIGHT CASE Legal battle over website continues P4 CAREER PLANS Law is a marathon, not sprint P7 FOCUS ON Managing Your Practice/Succession Planning P8 BY ANITA BALAKRISHNAN Law Times T he Law Society of Ontario says a new bill that over- hauls the Criminal Code could disrupt lawyer training programs and hamper access to justice initiatives and ex- tend court delays. In particular, the LSO says Bill C-75 would "eliminate" a regime of using paralegals and students for certain criminal hearings. Lawyers said the unintended consequences of the bill raise ques- tions about how the legal profession balances training the next genera- tion of lawyers while handling im- portant criminal matters. Visible minorities, Indigenous, low-income and immigrant com- munities currently rely on parale- gals and students for summary con- viction hearings — an option that may be eliminated under the bill, a result of changes to the mandatory sentences, the law society said in a document presented to Convoca- tion last week in a report to Convo- cation from the Government and Public Affairs Committee. The law society, represented by Treasurer Malcolm Mercer and Bencher Suzanne Clément, also made the comments before the Justice and Human Rights com- mittee of the House of Commons, which devoted a couple of weeks to studying the bill. The committee had published a list of nearly 50 witnesses or briefs by the middle of last week, includ- ing many from Ontario lawyers and legal organizations, such as Legal Aid Ontario, Toronto Law- yers Association and professors from Ryerson University, Queens University, the University of Otta- wa and the University of Toronto. Emma Rhodes, a lawyer that focuses on representing young people on youth criminal justice and child protection matters, says that if articling students aren't al- lowed to take on such cases with the assistance of senior lawyers, it might create a future problem for the profession. "This is part of a larger prob- lem that we have with respect to mentoring future lawyers in the criminal bar. We know that arti- cling positions as criminal lawyers are decreasing [and] mentorship opportunities are decreasing. It's an overriding concern that fu- ture lawyers that want to go into criminal justice are not going to See May, page 2 Woman granted intervener status at trial BY ELIZABETH RAYMER For Law Times A woman who was alleg- edly sexually harassed by a co-worker — whose employment was subse- quently terminated and who now claims damages for wrongful dis- missal — has been granted inter- vener status in the upcoming trial, in what may be a first in Canada. In Render v. ThyssenKrupp Elevator, 2018 ONSC 3182, Case Management Master Andrew Gra- ham of Ontario's Superior Court of Justice ruled that an employee who had claimed a co-worker had sexually harassed her can be an in- tervener at the trial for his wrong- ful dismissal. "Based on plaintiff 's counsel's cross-examination of Ms. [Linda] Vieira on her supporting affidavit, it is clear that not only her cred- ibility but also her integrity will be challenged at the trial of this action," wrote Graham in his deci- sion. "Her interest in both protect- ing her integrity and in questions of fact and law in common with issues in the action entitle her to bring this motion to intervene." Further, Graham noted, "Her counsel's participation will not unduly delay or prejudice the de- termination of the rights of the parties." This may be the first time that the target of alleged sexual harass- ment by a terminated employee has had standing at a wrongful dis- missal trial, according to counsel for the intervener and for the de- fendant in the case, ThyssenKrupp Elevator (Canada) Limited. However, says David Butt of Camden Lane Law Chambers in Toronto, who is representing the intervener in the case, "it was a classic example of applying estab- lished principles to new fact pat- terns. There are certainly some helpful principles articulated. "Whether you are a party to the litigation or not, if you do have a very serious interest in the out- come of the litigation, it's appro- See Complaint, page 2 www.twitter.com/lawtimes Follow TORONTO | BARRIE | HAMILTON | KITCHENER 1-866-685-3311 | mcleishorlando.com cLeish Orlando_LT_Jan_20_14.indd 1 14-01-15 3:15 PM FOUNDING PARTNER Honouring Canada's Leading Lawyers Under 40 – from law firms and in-house. Thursday, November 8 th , 2018 | The Fairmont Royal York Hotel, Toronto KEYNOTE SPEAKER | Kathleen Taylor, Chair of the Board, RBC lexpert.ca/rising-stars Untitled-2 1 2018-09-25 1:33 PM David Butt is representing a woman who has been granted intervener status in an upcom- ing trial for a man terminated for alleged sexual harassment.

• Cover